Hello All!
A quick message to let you know what I am up to – thanks to everyone who has been asking
for details, apologies if that doesn’t include you! In brief, I am running the
UTMB, Ultra-Trail de Mont Blanc, covering 168km on foot with 10km of up and
down, circumnavigating the Mont Blanc massive. I start 4:30pm Friday 30th,
and will run, walk or crawl continuously until I finish or it reaches 2:30pm on
Sunday, whichever comes sooner. I am expecting to be on my feet, hopefully with
forward motion, for about 40 hours. And no, I will not take a break – ‘beware
the chair’ as they say – once stopped you can never get going again. And yes,
that is a long time!
You can get a good taster for the event in this UTMB video...
You can get a good taster for the event in this UTMB video...
It is
exciting here in Chamonix. We are surrounded by quite a scene. There is an
incredible cross section of the ultra-running community – 6,000 runners taking
part, and thousands of others involved in the events, this is the biggest long
distance mountain race in Europe, perhaps anywhere. The town and valleys are
also filled with a quite remarkable array of fluorescent compression garments
and technical apparatus beyond description! And the sun is shining down on all
of this, and on the awe inspiring hugeness of Mont Blanc and its. Music blares
out across the town centre whipping everyone up into excitement, and somehow
everyone seems to be involved in the event in some way. Even our girls have
been racing – they both took part in mini-UTMB races today, led around by some
of the world’s leading runners (well, I was impressed even if Imogen wasn’t!).
Through all
the excitement there is also a lot of trepidation too. I have not had the
chance to train very much for the race, battling with injuries, so physically
this will be hard for me especially by the time I am into day two. I am taking
in comfort in the fact that these events have a huge mental element to them,
and I can master that. But it is hard not to feel a little intimidated by the
prospect of crossing brutal terrain through day and night, heat and bitter cold
and whatever else the mountains throw at us.
Really
though, the UTMB wristband I am wearing now that entitles me to line up at the
start tomorrow is a big prize in itself for me. This is the result of several
years of hard work, tough races, injuries, late nights in the gym and boring my
ever-resilient friends. Just being a part of this event is a huge cause to celebrate
for me. That will not stop me from putting every last bean of energy into the
event tomorrow, but it does mean I will walk away (or be carried!) with a smile
on my face.
If you would
like to keep track of my progress, I believe there are several ways to do it.
There is a more detailed tracker for each runner here: http://utmb.livetrail.net/ - enter my
number ‘3641’ and you will see how I am doing. There is also a live TV stream
from a few places, but it might be challenging to be watching for the second or
two in which I pass!: http://www.ultratrail.tv/.
There is also some crazy 3D map you can follow runners on somehow: http://www.nexxtep.fr/UTMB/FR/Directs/UTMB/.
I suspect my facebook account will also fill up with info about what is going
on.
A huge
thanks in advance to anyone who does check in on me. It was fantastic to get
comments and support during and after Western States last year, and the
knowledge that others are watching me might just be what I need to keep going
in the dark of the second night!
That’s all
from me, and I will email in a few days to let you know what happened. If you
want to know a bit more about the race, the details are all here: http://www.ultratrailmb.com/page/20/Presentation.html.
I have pasted in the map and profile too, for anyone interested.
Julian
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